


To Live and to Love

by ashlee1068



Category: One Piece
Genre: Also has angst, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, But only a few are, Fluffy-ish?, Gen, Nakamaship, Overprotective Straw Hats, and fights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 07:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7092349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashlee1068/pseuds/ashlee1068
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is the modern world, and Luffy has been reincarnated. His crew hasn't, but that's alright. They'll watch over him anyways. He watched over and protected them, after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He was born, bright eyed and ready for trouble, to a woman living alone in Brazil. The husband was nowhere to be seen. The new mother died due to complications during childbirth.

The crew stood and watched, not saying a word or shedding a tear for the lonely drunk they followed for nine months.

It wasn’t like their captain needed a mother to be happy.

Luffy would always be happy, because they would always be there for him, just like he was for them.

 

\----

  
Zoro eyed the kids circling Luffy wearily. Luffy was 6, and was playing (alone) on the playground when the kids approached. His captain either hasn't noticed them or doesn't care. Zoro doesn't think the kids are here to play.

One of the kids throws a punch at the unsuspecting child.

Another does not come.

Garp sent Luffy to America because of him, but he can't find it in himself to care. Let there be rumors that the boy is haunted, or whatever. It will only make people less likely to hurt him. Zoro glares at the plane, it's sleek white body mocking him. This stupid thing was supposed to fly? Yeah right.

Stupid future.

 

\----

 

Luffy had just arrived at America. There was someone that was supposed to be here for him, right? As Nami looks around the crowded area, she can't help but think that there must be a mistake or something. She sees no sign with Luffy’s name on it, no one in military uniform. The plane landed 30 minutes ago, and Luffy has been sitting in the place Garp had told him to in his letter (which had arrived with the ticket) for the past 15. Most people don't notice the small boy. Those that do don't approach. 15 minutes later, Nami decides to take action. She quickly finds a security guard and carefully zaps him. The man jumps and turns toward where she would have been, if he could see her. Instead he notices little Luffy, sitting alone five feet away. 

He approaches.

As Luffy is taken away, Nami hopes that she did the right thing.

She doesn’t notice the man eating pie in a nearby shop that had been staring at her and Luffy the entire time.

Just before she follows the car, she looks around.

She and the reincarnation of one Marshal D. Teach make eye contact.

\----

 

Usopp prefers Makino, all the way back in Brazil, to this new foster family.

They are loud. Very, very loud. They are also mean, and if Luffy doesn't fight to get to the table, and then fight for food, he doesn't eat. If this was what Luffy had to live with in his previous life, Usopp thinks, then it's no wonder that Luffy was so small for his age, and that he had absolutely no table manners. He fires a rock at someone's hand, allowing Luffy to get the rice he had been reaching for. Usopp wonders if this is legal.

Usopp also wonders where Ace is. Or Sabo, for that manner. When did Luffy meet them, again?

Then again, Luffy has never needed any pity. Despite his size, he has always been strong.

It would be nice for someone Luffy could see, hear, and talk to to help out and be there for him, though.

Not the Usopp was complaining.

Usopp would never complain about his captain. (Not seriously, that is.)

 

\----

 

Sanji is disgusted at the lengths his captain has to go in order to get enough food to survive, much more to be healthy. All of the midnight raids suddenly make sense. The gluttony, the theft. The fact that Luffy probably had the fastest metabolism in existence definitely doesn't help either. Speaking of which.

Luffy enters the kitchen, and manages (after about an hour) to break the child lock on the fridge. Everything in it is either bad or needs to be cooked. He can tell that Luffy is considering the rotten food, from the way he eyes it. Sanji huffs a depressed sigh, opens the freezer, and begins to guide (teach) Luffy on how to make food. His captain will not starve for as long as Sanji can manipulate his surroundings. And even after (if there is an after), his captain will not starve, because Sanji will make sure his boy of a captain can cook the healthiest of meals with the worst of ingredients.

After all, he knows intimately what it's like to starve.

it is a thing he will not let his captain ever endure.

 

\----

 

Luffy had just turned 7 when he finally meets Ace.

At least, Chopper _thinks_ it's Ace. He can't really tell because _oh god oh god why is there so much blood why is this child bleeding who would do this_ but he's pretty sure it's Ace. Luffy is applying pressure to the wounds while Chopper stitches the deep ones (he's so, so glad that Luffy is such an accepting person, even if they had been with him all his life, because if he was anyone else sooner or later one would question why things happened around them, why they felt like they were being touched even though they couldn't see or hear anything) and Chopper is immensely grateful that the child ( _Ace,_ his mind yells) is out of it because how much they would freak out if ( _when)_ they saw nothing stitching them. It takes time, and he more than once fights back the urge to cry because _he's stitching someone without an anaesthetic_ , but soon enough he finishes. And just in time, too, because as soon as he puts the needle down, a blond boy that looks a couple years younger than the one he just stitched ( _Sabo_ , his mind supplies) comes running over.

During the thanks the boy ( _SABO!!)_ gives Luffy, he wonders why the unconscious one ( _Ace, why won't you admit that he's obviously ACE?!)_ is two years older than the blond one (two years older than he should be).

He wonders who the beautiful blonde woman running down the street (toward them) crying about her child ( _Ace, oh my god Ace is he okay?!)_ is.

He knows, despite his denial, that the boy is Ace, and that he is older (than he should be) because his mother didn't have to hold him for 20 months, and that the woman is his mother (Rouge, lover of the pirate king) and is obviously not dead due to childbirth.

He wonders if this means that Roger (the pirate king) is alive.

He wonders for the first time what Luffy will do with his boundless energy and life when he becomes an adult.

 

\----

The man grabbed Luffy’s arm. Luffy did not speak, but he screamed as loud as he possibly could. Robin's head snapped up, took in the situation. Within seconds, the man had let go, his arm broken by her invisible hands. Luffy left, the incident already forgotten. Once Luffy was around the corner and out of sight, Robin attacked.

His screams echoed around the abandoned street.

The man would never be heard from again.

The man would never even be found.

 

\----

 

It is a few days after Luffy met (saved) Ace, listened to Sabo, and smiled at Rouge.

Franky sat with Luffy, observing the quaint house as Rouge sat and began to teach Luffy English. The crew had been fretting about the fact that Luffy didn't know English (and that Dadan and whoever else was in Luffy’s foster family didn't bother trying to teach him) but now it seems they don't have to worry. The moment Rouge learned that Luffy only spoke Portuguese, she went and made it her mission to teach him. Franky was glad. Ace and Sabo were up in Ace’s room, chatting away until Rouge (bless that woman) let up teaching for the day.

The crew was pretty sure that they were learning Luffy's native language from Rouge's old books.

Not that they bothered to check.

And if Luffy would stray from the lesson just to be put back on track with a little bit of food suddenly appearing in his hand, Rouge never said anything.

 

\----

 

Luffy was only 7 and a half, and would probably never meet anyone who remembered who he once was.

Brook watched the police (led by Smoker, amusingly enough) and child services take Luffy away from the Dadan family. Watched as he was taken to an orphanage. Watched as family after family came, and not a single one came back. Rouge came with Ace and Sabo everyday, never missing a lesson, yes, but she was unable to adopt him. It a was a recurring cycle until one day, Brook saw a face he did not think he would see again.

Jinbei.

He was walking down the street, probably going to work if the briefcase was any indication. The moment the once tiger-shark fishman (and wasn't that strange, to recognise him as a human) noticed Luffy, sitting by a tree and playing (alone) however, he stopped.

Stood there.

Could he possibly…?

The man walked over to the gates, the entrance. Stopped, stood. Hesitated. And then entered. Went to Luffy, and kneeled infront of their captain. Luffy looked up due to the shadow covering him, saw Jinbei, and absolutely beamed. Jinbei smiled in return. Spoke softly, quietly.

“Hello, Luffy, it's been a while.”

If skeletons could smile, or cry for that matter, Brook would be wailing, with a smile that challenged even his captain's best.

And so, his captain was adopted.

He was only 9, but he was finally with someone who knew him as who he once was. Who he would always be.

Monkey D. "Strawhat" Luffy, the second Pirate King, and forever captain (nakama) of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Brook smiled (even though he didn't have lips to smile with, skull joke! yohohohohohoho!), and for the first time since his captains (re)birth, played Bink's Sake.

It was only fitting that his captain started the next chapter of his life with the song of his previous, after all.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand I'm back! With another chapter! Robin starts us off with a long-ish-ish (not really) one because hers was so short in the previous chapter's, and other people get to, I dunno, talk?? Be the narrator??? Whatever. Other people besides the ghosts, that is. Also, angst. Because angst.
> 
> Enjoy!

Luffy was 10 when he finally met Shanks.

 

Robin wonders why it took so long.

 

Her captain is at Rouge’s house, playing in the living room with Ace and Sabo (does Sabo live here?), when the redhead comes in unannounced. Rouge greets him, all happy smiles and motherly warmth (so kind, even when faced with the darkness of the world), not the slightest bit surprised with his coming. She beckons him in, leads him into the living room, and so it is that Luffy (re)meets his idol. They hit it off immediately. (So easy, to fall into her captain’s charm. She and the rest of the crew would know.)

 

She smiles as Shanks ruffles her captain’s hair just like he did when they met for the second time (as if they had known each other for years, knew each other kind of like a father and a son), and she laughs wholeheartedly when he cracks a joke about anchors.

 

Robin wonders if Shanks remembers being a pirate captain.

 

Robin wonders if Shanks knows Luffy as the king, or simply knows him from photos (that had mysteriously gotten around) as the boy Jinbei adopted without warning, without a reason. (At least, no reason anyone else would ever be able to understand.)

 

(Jinbei is loyal to those who gain his respect (to his nakama), after all.)

 

\----

 

Ace wonders about Luffy (the little, tiny boy whom he thinks of as a younger brother) sometimes.

 

Okay, a lot.

 

(Most of the time the boy was around, and usually even after, to be exact.)

 

Luffy was currently staying over for a few days because Jinbei had to go on a work trip, and it was currently time for dinner. At least, it would have been, if it weren’t for the fact that Rouge (his mom) had gotten sick and was now confined to bedrest.

 

And for some strange reason, Luffy (the crazy, hyperactive, clumsy, and absolutely _blinding_ boy) was in the kitchen.

 

Cooking.

 

Nothing was burned and/or burning, there was no bleeding from an accidental knife cut, he hadn’t even tripped over something. But most shocking of all?

 

It smelled _heavenly_.

 

When and how did Luffy even learn to cook?

 

He and Sabo watched as the boy practically _danced_ around the kitchen, making a meal that was (probably) worthy of a king. The main thing Luffy circled around, checking every so often, was a pot of soup. It wasn’t from some Campbell's can, or something. It was _homemade_.

 

_He wasn’t even using a recipe, seriously, when did he learn how to cook?!_

 

And if sometimes Luffy jumped as if he was being tapped, or suddenly an ingredient that wasn’t there before was suddenly in the boy’s hand, he and Sabo didn’t say anything.

 

It was normal around Luffy, after all.

 

(His mom says that Luffy has “Guardian Angels”, whatever those are. He and Sabo simply see it as someone who cares.)

 

(There aren’t many of those in existence, after all.)

 

\----

 

Jinbei couldn’t do anything but blink as he stared at the man standing at his door. “What?” He finally asked after about five minutes, completely confused.

 

“I want to hang out with Luffy!” The red-haired man (child) said cheerfully (whined) for the second time. Benn, his second in command/babysitter/were they a thing?? Was standing to Shanks’s right and looking very done with the situation. Jinbei could concur.

 

“It is six in the morning.”

 

“6:32, Jinbei.”

 

“Did you really just check your phone to correct me? And how do you even know where I live?”

 

Before the questions could be answered (damn Red-Hair and his luck, he always got away with not answering questions in his previous life too) Luffy came bounding down the steps from the second floor like the surprisingly early riser that he was, saw Jinbei and Shanks at the door, and dove for a tackle. Jinbei couldn’t even get angry at the boy for tackling from the stairs because he was too adorable and looked too much like an overexcited puppy. Or maybe he was just a complete pushover when it came to his captain-turned-charge (son?). As he watched Shanks and Luffy talk (way too excitedly for so early in the morning, thank you very much) he decided that yeah, he was being a pushover. He couldn’t find it in himself to care as he gave a fond, if exasperated, sigh. Benn nodded in agreement.

 

He just hoped that Luffy wouldn’t go and make a gang or a mafia or something when he was older, like Shanks had done in this life.

 

It wouldn’t be nearly as fun or rewarding as being a pirate once was.

 

\---

 

Trafalgar Law looked at the new kid in the orphanage and did a double take.

 

He had simply been minding his own business (as usual) when he had heard the whispers of the other orphanage children. Whispers, he was used to, what with the white vitiligo patches on his skin. He was an outcast for a reason. Whispers about other people, however? He wasn’t so used to. So he, being the curious (if slightly disturbed) boy that he was, looked to the one being whispered about. And promptly questioned his sanity.

  
The boy himself was normal, he guessed. He looked like he was 5 to maybe 7 years old, was tiny, and he, contrary to the whispers, _wasn't_ alone. In fact, there were eight people around him, talking and yelling at each other. (If three of them could be considered people that was. Could a giant man made of metal, a _skeleton_ of all things, and was that an off-colored raccoon..?-- No, it had antlers. Some strange, hybrid deer?-- Be considered people? He didn't really think so, but they were obviously contributing to the debate, so…) The boy didn't seem to have awareness of them, or maybe he just didn't care that he had eight (five?) strange people arguing about him. (Did the man with green hair of all colors seriously have three swords? How would he use the third?)

 

He took a step forward to approach and talk to the kid, and maybe the strange people, when someone calling his name stopped him. He faced the door to the orphanage, and there standing beside the senior caretaker was the clumsy blonde man from a few weeks ago. What was his name again? Roci-something? Rosey? He had been called Corazon over the phone call he had (Law had  _ not _ been eavesdropping), so he guessed that might be his name? The man had a bag at his side, and Law understood. He was being adopted. He took a glance back at the boy and the strange people. Oh well. Maybe he'd be able to talk to them later.

 

He didn't realize that “later” would happen two years after in a place he thoroughly considered to be hell.

 

\---

 

Sabo glanced out of the corner of his eye to Luffy and Ace (his younger and older brother in everything but blood). The two were enjoying their ice cream cones as they walked Luffy back to Jinbei’s, if their content expressions were anything to go by. Sabo was glad. It was a hot summer this year, and Ace (the hormonal 15 year old that he was) had complained more than once about how he wished the heat didn't affect him while Luffy (the ten year old menace that he was) laughed at Ace’s suffering. Sabo, 13 and perfectly happy as the middle child, thanks, was suffering under the heat like Ace but kept quiet so that he didn't have to be a target of Luffy’s heckling. He turned his gaze back to the surprisingly empty streets, just in time to see the hand (gloved, adult,  _ stranger _ ) before it covered his mouth. As he began to fall unconscious, his eyes found the kidnapper’s strange (antique, military grade,  _ expensive _ ) silver and gold watch.

 

_ Tic. _

 

He struggled with all his might, saw his brothers doing the same.

 

_ Toc. _

 

One of the approaching men was knocked out by seemingly nothing, the ones restraining Lu and himself suffering the same fate.

 

_ Tic. _

 

Ace broke free, just to collapse. Whatever drug they were using must have triggered his narcolepsy.

 

_ Toc. _

 

His vision blurred as he began to collapse himself. Or maybe the drug was taking hold, and was really that strong. Luffy was the last man standing.

 

_ Tic. _

 

A man came to Luffy from behind. As Sabo’s vision faded, he saw them inject something into Luffy’s neck. People stopped strangely collapsing as Luffy collapsed himself. What did they…?

 

_ Toc. _

 

His reality blurred as he felt hands roughly pick him up. He could hardly think. The last thing he saw was a man (Jinbei…? _ ) _ rushing toward them, anger and fear on his face, before the back doors to the van (when did he get into a van?) closed. The car sped off as fast as possible as gunshots rang clear through the haze, before he finally fell asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after writing the initial one shot, I was happy and life was good. Then I questioned what would happen if Shanks appeared and Jinbei’s reaction to the friendship between the two. And then one of my friends (who is an avid Lawlu shipper) asked how I thought Law should be included. After a long talk on increasingly stupid ideas (school is not a way to get people 7 years apart from each other to meet) it came to the question "what would happen. If Devil fruit powers existed, but through like, science, like Captain America." Thus came talk of kidnapping (kid fics guys, child abuse is not acceptable irl but do people love kid fics with it) and other horrible things. It was great. And so came this chapter.
> 
> Enjoy the cliffhanger, I'm going on a four day vacation.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woo, and so, after forever, I finally post the next part!
> 
> Tbh, I'm not sure how good it is, or how good the end is. It'd be great to get some feedback, because I'm really iffy on if it's good or not.
> 
> Either way, I hope you all enjoy!

Blackbeard grinned maniacally. 

 

Four long years.

 

It had taken four long years after seeing that damn little-  _ that damn little _ \-- that damn little BRAT that had RUINED his previous life.

 

Sure, in that life he had waited 15 years just to find that stupid fruit before he betrayed and later killed that foolish old idiot and his equally foolish crew.

 

But.

 

This was the  _ boy _ who destroyed him.

Who had  _ beaten _ him,  _ him! _ He, who was one of the most powerful, no, he was the strongest! The boy who then had him watch, unable to do a thing as his life’s work  _ crumbled _ in a span of minutes.

Who, as far as Blackbeard was concerned, killed him.

 

He, in his insanity-riddled mind, thought that four years was  _ damn well _ long enough. Was  _ four years too long _ , to be exact.

 

At first he had sent people to kidnap him, just for them all to vanish without a trace, or, in one memorable occasion, return to him in a box as a severed head.  _ So what if the kids crew haunted him? _ It was apparent after he had hired some idiot called BlueJam to beat up his former commander, however, that the ghosts were going to be a bit of a problem. “Nothing that couldn't be handled,” he had thought. “It would only take about a month to get around the menaces,” he had thought. How absolutely  _ stupid _ he was. Of course it wouldn't take a simple month! These were the  _ insects _ that had destroyed him, after all! He had tried, and tried, and  _ tried _ for almost half a year, and was about ready to break down the door of the damn foster family's house to get even a  _ shot _ at the brat when finally, he was approached by someone who  _ understood _ . Who  _ remembered _ .

 

And who hated that thrice-damned Straw Hat, too.

 

Morgan.

 

Apparently, Straw Hat had taken and turned his son against him, and wanted revenge. A drive Blackbeard could, although he had no child, understand.

 

Morgan worked for a group who called themselves the  _ Order of Vengeance _ . A group of people who  _ all _ remembered. And although not all of them had vendetta against the Straw Hats, enough of them did to where Teach was accepted in with open arms, and nearly  _ worshipped _ for all he did to hurt the once rubber bastard. They laughed and they argued, drafted plans and tossed them away into an ever growing pile of failures. It took weeks, but eventually a plan was finalized.

 

Step 1: Uproot him from his foster family.

 

A ridiculously easy step. They didn't even have to frame the group for a murder, but instead got them locked up for simple child abuse charges. They should have planned for if the brat wasn't placed in another foster home, but it wasn't really something that would affect the plan. In fact, it was something that made the plan easier.

 

Step 2: Complete the Main Assignment.

 

The most time consuming part of the plan. The Order had been founded by a person who had remembered the past and longed for the powers of the Devil as they remembered having before, but as Devil Fruits no longer existed they had to engineer their own powers. It had taken over 50 years before the genius had finished and perfected the formula, just to have it all destroyed by their own son. The old man Whitebeard, ironically enough. The genius’s legacy still lived on however, and through their old notes the scientists of the Order were recreating the final product. It simply needed to be tested on non-adults. They wanted Straw Hat to suffer, after all.

 

Step 3: Get rid of the ghosts.

 

The hardest part. Not everyone could see ghosts, after all. But many with harsh lives such as murderers had plenty haunting them and waiting for their demise. It took him a lot of time in the lab, collaborating with the scientists, but finally they found a way to kill the ghosts. And, just as important, keep the haunted person alive. A simple shot injected into the neck. Not only would the person be out like a light for weeks on end, the ghosts would vanish and never reappear. Excellent.

 

Step 4: Capture.

 

Straw Hat was still at the orphanage. There was a small moment when Blackbeard had been minutely worried, because he had seen Trafalgar Law there and he knew that the creepy surgeon and Straw Hat had been close. The spies keeping regular check, however, reassured him that Law had no memories of the previous life. Capture was as simple as adoption.

 

Step 5: Make. Him. Pay.

 

The most enjoyable part of the plan. They would test the formula on him, as it would be wonderful for the enemy to contribute to perfecting the formula. It helped that the children around his age experimented on had been in agony. Then, they would be able to do whatever they wanted to make him suffer as he had done to them before killing him. Brutally.

  
  


It was the perfect plan. Nothing could go wrong- had gone wrong. The brat had been stuck in the orphanage for two years and was never adopted, and none of the children would miss him. The beginning of adoption could happen right after the insec-- the brats “brothers” and said brothers’ mother left. They would have him, and he would suffer.

 

It was only natural then, that the worst possible thing would happen.

 

Rouge, Ace, and Sabo walked out as they usually did. What  _ wasn't _ routine was the man that walked out with them, holding Luffy’s hand in his own, a bag in the other. The man that they thought had been dating Rouge. The spies got closer, their comms on and feeding through anything said within five feet of them. One got into the tree the brat liked to play under.

 

“-it's absolutely wonderful that you've been allowed to adopt Luffy! I had been so worried that-”

 

Adopt?

 

“-wish I could have, but with Sabo being a runaway, if we got on the radar of the police, Roger would have to move us-”

 

So the man and Rouge  _ weren't  _ dating?

 

“-honestly, thank you so, so much, Jinbei!”

 

_ Jinbei!? _

 

Blackbeard saw red. When he had finally come to, five men lay dead, the table had been decimated, and the screen had been shattered beyond repair. No one brought his rage up, but the air had turned from assured to hesitant when people came to him to give a report.

 

It didn't matter anymore, however. A year after the adoption, and they had finally managed to kidnap not only Straw Hat, but his brothers. He glanced down at his left wrist to check his watch that the Order had given him when they recruited him.

 

It was gone.

  
  


\---

 

Jinbei was LIVID. Not only at himself, but at the people behind the kidnapping.

 

He sat in the infirmary, being tended to by Whitebeard’s nurses. A gold and silver antique watch sat on the table beside him, an emblem of an alligator eating the sun etched clearly on the back. He closed his eyes as the nurse began to patch the final bullet wound. An image of the three boys in the van flashed across his mind. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. The image turned to a face that he knew well. Blackbeard. He had hoped that he would never see the bastard again after destroying him and ending his rule as a Yonko, but fate apparently had other plans.  He opened his eyes and looked at the watch.

 

Antique, extremely expensive, and scientifically enhanced to withstand most damaging factors. Few owned in existence, because of how expensive making them was. And Teach, the traitorous bastard (not that he had even been within Whitebeard’s group in this life), was wearing an  _ engraved _ one. Where ever he was, he was seriously funded. Marco returned, face grim. His eyes were burning with barely restrained rage. Jinbei closed his eyes and sighed before opening them and looking straight into the burning pits of Marco’s usually uninterested gaze. Jinbei supposed the stories he told of Luffy and his brothers had made the kids grow on Whitebeard's commanders.

 

“It is not your fault that this happened, Marco,” he stated. Said first division commander huffed but said nothing. He had come to visit Jinbei and maybe meet the boys, when everything had happened. Jinbei knew that Marco’s sense of responsibility was making him feel guilty. He could understand.

 

Marco sat down beside Jinbei, and told him all he knew of the Order of Vengeance. Of how the founder was an insane, heartless person who experimented on their own children and the children of others to make super powered people, while claiming that they were doing it to “restore to the human race the power they were bestowed”. Of how Whitebeard had destroyed the main laboratory and all of the formula and research before it could be sold to the government, and then systematically went around destroying all of the rest of the Orders bases, freeing all of the children as he went. Of how there was only one place Whitebeard had never gotten around to destroying himself, because it should have been destroyed in an explosion.

 

“It's the only place they could be, yoi,” Marco said softly, “no other place would have all the equipment needed for experimentation. No other place would have the emblem. We'll get your son and his brothers back, Devil Injections be damned.”

 

\----

 

Luffy coughed and fought back the urge to throw up. He heard Ace's voice somewhere to his left. Somewhere to his right, he heard the strangely comforting muttering of a (familiar) man (who was a stranger) going over the ingredients for a healthy soup, and caught the scent of cigarette smoke.

 

He saw a flash of yellow before he went to sleep.

 

\--

 

Ace talked to and did his best to soothe the children in the room. Quietly, he grumbled to himself. Why did he have to be the one to do this, dammit?! Sabo knows how bad he is with comforting people!

 

A four year old girl sobbed and clung to him. “It's going to be alright,” he sighed as he combed his fingers through her hair.

 

He hoped his dad or Jinbei came soon, because he was too weak right now to do anything other than comfort the other kids and glare at the adults that came into the room, always with tidings of pain and another kid taken to never come back again, always muttering of experiments and failures.

 

(He wondered why, in the room that all the kids said was cold, he didn't feel anything but  _ warmth _ .)

 

\--

 

Luffy drank the soup as best as he could in his weakened state. His eyes blurrily landed on a figure he couldn't really make out but made him feel safe.

 

Before he passed out, he saw a flash of white and thought he heard the sound of clashing swords.

 

\--

 

Sabo glared at the disgusting fat man who laughed and gloated about capturing “the thrice-damned Straw Hat bug and the tiny-former commander,” whatever that meant. Luffy lied behind him, panting and sick from whatever they had injected into him. Not that Sabo himself was really doing much better. After being injected, he had been having breathing problems, as did Ace. Sabo glanced around the room, ignoring the insane man for the time being. Children, all of them younger than him except for Ace and the Law guy, who was four years older than him and as sick as, if not sicker than Luffy, were huddled together in fear. The little Apis girl sobbed quietly even as she rubbed sweat from the 17 year old.

 

It had only been two days and Sabo was sure that there was no hell worse than this.

 

(He wondered why, when he slept, he dreamt of fire, and why sometimes he swore that same flame flickered on his shoulder or hands, just to vanish the moment he turned to look.)

 

\--

 

Luffy shivered and struggled to breathe. Why did he hear someone crying out his name, and why did the voice sound so familiar?

 

He saw a flash of pink and thought of reindeer before his vision faded again.

 

\--

 

Zoro was pissed. After he came to, he felt  _ weak _ . He hadn't felt so weak since he died. The room was filled with children, and his captain was obviously extremely sick, if Chopper’s sobbing was any indication. Which is probably why he felt so weak in the first place. The Strawhats had figured out that, as Luffy got older, their strength relied on their captain's well-being. Which sucked when it came to protecting him. He huffed and glared at the door. Luffy was so sick Zoro couldn't even  _ leave the room _ . Damn proximity needs.

 

To distract himself, he looked around the room and found himself side-eyeing the reincarnation of the surgeon of death. Who could  _ see _ and  _ hear _ them, even if he didn't  _ remember _ . And who also, like the sneaky bastard he was (even in his previous life), had found out what had caused them to disappear for three days in the first place. Which reminded Zoro about how much he hated Marshal D. Teach.

 

At least the injection had only been tested on ghosts who remained out of hatred and desire for revenge.

 

Zoro looked forward to being strong enough to laugh in the fat man's face when he realizes that the injection doesn't end the ghosts who remain out of  _ love _ and  _ loyalty _ .

 

(He worried, however, about how he felt the pull of the afterlife stronger than ever, and knew that the others felt the same.)

 

\--

 

Luffy drifted as he felt a hand gently card through his hair, the faint scent of tangerines lingering.

 

He saw orange and thought of a storm on the seas.

 

\--

 

Jinbei took deep breaths as he steadied himself. Shoulder wounds were always a hell to deal with when it came to changing bandages. The nurse hummed.

 

“Doing well, Jinbei. You should be all healed up in about four months. Just remember to not take off the sling for another two or so months.”

 

Jinbei nodded but didn't answer aloud. All he wanted was for his captain and his brothers to be safe and away from the traitor as soon as possible.

 

He didn't even care if he wasn't a part of the rescue group, if it meant the three being back.

 

(He hoped that the boys wouldn't be angry if that were the case. Then again, they'd probably be happy to see that he didn't endanger himself. They were protective and caring like that.)

 

\--

 

Luffy smiled as he listened to the outrageous story he could hear in the corner of his awareness.

 

He saw green and thought of slingshots.

 

\--

 

Law grunted as he sat against the wall. Moving was taxing and he'd have rather not moved at all, but lying down made him feel pathetic. He kept an eye on the door, tense as he waited for either the man with the long greasy beard or one of the scientists to come in. He listened to the loud cries of the little deer-racoon thing and the softer chokes of the children, terrified and trying to be silent so as to not draw the attention of the guards at the door.

 

The door opened and a scientist, flanked by kevlar covered men, came in.

 

A brown haired child that reminded Law of his deceased little sister was taken away.

 

She never came back.

 

\--

 

Luffy relaxed to the soft sound of a violin. He fell asleep to silver.

 

He felt stronger and knew that he'd stop being sick soon.

 

\--

 

Gol D. Roger was pissed off. He had come back from dealing with upstarts who wanted some of his territory to a distraught wife and a kidnapped child.

 

A question directed at Whitebeard had him in on the plan and ready to murder with his red-headed protégé and a burly tiger-shark of a man by his side.

 

Whoever said rivals couldn't work together?

 

\--

 

He reacted on instinct as the strong and mean men grabbed at him, and felt as his leg stretched further than humanly possible. The man approaching with the syringe cried out in pain as the foot caught him in the stomach and caused him to fall, injecting himself with the strange liquid.

 

He felt multiple hands (all from the same person, he knew, but how?) hold him gently and heard the familiar clanging of an arm made of metal as the scientists ignored their fellow convulsing on the ground and instead muttered about successes and government contracts.

 

The guards tossed him back into the room without making him hurt lots beforehand.

 

He fell asleep with the whiff of flowers and motor oil, and dreamed of purple trees and neon blue skies.

 

\--

 

A week had passed since the three boys were kidnapped, and Edward Newgate was ready to end his terrible parent’s legacy once and for all. He stood tall as he gazed over at the wreckage of his childhood home. 

( _A memory of happiness and smiles, tainted by pain and fear and betrayal, floats up unbidden.)_

_ (Once white walls became decorated with dirt and ash as the building collapses from the force of an earthquake, a power that comes from his own hands. _

 

_ His parents were inside.) _

An unassuming and rather haunting place, with many floors of basement below. The earpiece crackled as it came alive.

 

“All clear, pops,” Marco said from his place in a nearby building, leading the intelligence and hacking division of the mission. The cameras in the building were down.

 

“Good job,” he praised before steeling his heart against what was sure to be horrors within. He glanced over at where he knew Roger was waiting, tense, for the okay. He returned his gaze to the building.

 

“Operation Ending, begin.” 

 

The brats would be saved or they would die trying, he was sure of it.

 

\--

 

The Strawhat ghosts tensed as they heard yelling in the corridor outside the cramped room, worried that it would be Teach coming in and that he would see them. Nami glanced over to the others in the room.

 

“Should we go and see what's causing all the ruckus? Luffy's healthy enough to where we can probably leave the building entirely, now.”

 

Usopp pursed his lips and looked over to where their captain was sitting and quietly chatting with their once-ally Law. The rest of the Strawhats understood.

 

_ To leave him and find out or to stay with him and stay in the dark about what's happening? _

 

Zoro sighed. “Should we draw straws? Long straws stay and short straws go?” 

 

The other ghosts nodded in agreement, but before they could do anything, the door banged open and the one man who had all of their ire entered.

 

One Marshal D. Teach felt his eyes widen as he saw the ghosts he could have sworn he got rid of.

 

(They were scared. The pull to the afterlife was getting harder to resist.

 

It almost felt like

 

          an _ending_.)

 

\--

 

Roger kept his face grim as he fought like a man possessed to get to his son and the two kids Ace considered brothers. He hadn't met the Luffy kid yet, as he had been away for four whole years, and had been looking forward to when learning about the kid from Rouge over phone calls. It looked like a happy meeting would have to be put on hold, however.

 

(He dreamed of days spent sailing the sea, in a time before chemotherapy had been discovered, in a time where he decided to live his life to the fullest before his cancer killed him, and at his death issued a challenge that was accepted and completed by a kid who treasured his friends more than anything else, a wide eyed man too innocent, yet too shadowed with the darkness of the world.)

 

He shot the man in front of him and kicked him down as he continued sprinting forward, finally ending up on the fifth floor of the basements, where their intelligence told them the kids most likely were being kept.

 

(“What a bright kid!” he laughed as he watched from his place in the afterlife, “Shanks picked a good one to bet on!”)

 

He heard a scream of fear and a cry of pain.

 

(Rouge sobbed as their son got jumped between the kid and a fist of magma. Roger felt dread. _Ace wasn't supposed to join them so soon..!_ )

 

Entering the room, his blood went cold at the sight of a small boy, bleeding from a knife wound from his cheek, just below his eye, the kidnapper holding him up by his throat with one hand, the other holding a knife.

 

“You almost look like how you did back in the old days, Strawhat,” Marshal D. Teach breathes.

 

It's the last thing he says before Roger puts a bullet in his back.

 

\--

 

One evacuation, burn down of a building from the lowest level, and an anonymous call to the police later, the Strawhat ghosts can only feel relief as a sobbing Luffy, with recently stitched crescent shaped wound under his eye, clung tightly to Jinbei in the privacy of the Whitebeard Inc. building known as the Moby Dick.

 

They watched as Ace and Sabo clung to both Roger and Rouge, a smile on their faces. Ace had no reason to regret his existence, after all.

 

Their grins grew as Luffy, tired of crying, peeked over Jinbei’s shoulder, saw them, and beamed. (It was great to be seen by him.)

 

Watching the touching reunion, they realized that their captain would be happy without them.

 

(But that was alright, because now, he wouldn't be alone.)

 

\--

 

They glanced at each other.

 

“Should we go to rest?” Usopp asked as they watched over the sleeping Luffy.

 

They all grinned.

 

“Nah,” Franky drawled, “Luffy-bro can't handle himself most days.”

 

Sanji nodded. “He'd starve for sure, Jinbei and Rouge’s help be damned.”

 

“Yohohohohohoho, ah, but we wouldn't have him any other way, right?”

 

Zoro grinned.

  
“We swore we'd watch over him, after all, endings be damned.”


End file.
